Gotham Academy
by Collasoll
Summary: Set in a universe where the gang all goes to Gotham Academy, but have no powers. Mainly about Wally and all of his high school adventures.
1. Chapter 1

Gotham Academy was just like you typical school, including the cliches. They had everything you could think of; jocks, cheerleaders, mathletes, drama kids, etc. Once you were put in a category you were stuck there for the rest of your highschool career. It was always interesting seeing where the new kids were placed every year. This year was going to be especially interesting, but nobody knew that yet.

It was the beginning of the second semester at Gotham Academy, students were just starting to get the hang of school again. One day though, a new kid arrived, this was completely unheard of here. No one new came to the academy unless it was the beginning of the year.

This year though, was going to be different because Wally West enrolled at the Academy. He was funny, smart, and likeable. On everyone's first day they were assigned a guide around the school. Wally was no different, his guide was a girl named Linda Park.

Over the next week the two became friends and started doing a lot of things together. Although, Wally had more friends than just her. He met a guy named Dick, Dick Grayson. He was one of the mathletes and he always traveled with his best friend Barbara. The four started hanging out together all of the time, it was just like your typical kids from a movie.

"Wally?" Linda asked.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"I've always wanted a boyfriend."

"Yeah, and?"

"I meant you silly!"

He looked at her in disbelief as he asked, "Me? I've known you for less than two weeks?"

She only smiled at him as she answered him, "I know, and that's why you would be perfect. Neither of us have any experience dating from what I can tell, and we have to start somewhere."

Wally thought that that made no sense, but he figured that there was no reason that they couldn't try. He was attracted to her there was no doubt about that, so he figured why not, "Alright, let's do it."

Pretty soon, it was well known that the two were dating, not that anyone cared. Well, one person in particular seemed to care, one of the popular female athletes named Artemis. She seemed determined to make Wally's life a living hell. She never seemed to miss an opportunity to make fun of him or point out his shortcomings.

Over the rest of the year things continued to change. Wally and Linda actually were a great match, they never had problems in their relationship. Pretty soon Wally had made new friends; Megan-the cheerleader, Kaldur-the jock, and Conner-the jock.

They were an unlikely group of friends, but they banded together well. The only problem in Wally's social life, was Artemis. She seemed to try to ruin his life every chance she got, whether it was; pulling his pants down in a hallway, pushing him down the stairs, or beating him at every sport.


	2. Chapter 2

Wally had an eventful summer, his family went on trips all around the world. He had only been back for a week when school started again. He was going to be a sophomore this year, and he was so excited, he couldn't wait to be able to drive and get out of the house more. His birthday wasn't until December though, so he still had to wait another four months until he was going to turn 16.

Wally's POV

This was going to be the best year ever; I've got a girlfriend, friends, I'm turning 16, and I don't even feel like the new kid anymore. Robin is so cool and so much like me, he is smart, funny, and charming. I'm glad that I had him visit Greece with me, I mean who else would laugh with me at the naked statues of the Greek Gods? It was literally the funniest thing I'd ever seen. I mean I've taken health class, and I know how funny that was trust me, but this was even funnier.

Robin and I also played a lot of video games which he always destroyed me at, it wasn't really fair whenever he was a skilled hacker and I was just an avid player of video games. His friend Barbara, who was smoking hot by the way, played with us and also beat me. She seemed to be the female version of him, and I thought that they would be a great couple, but I wasn't exactly going to say that in front of them. If I did that, then there was no way of telling if she would kill me painfully. I figured that it was best to leave their personal issues between them.

The only thing that I wasn't looking forward to this year, was that Artemis was going to be there. I don't know what her problem was, but she tried continuously to ruin my life. I don't know whether or not she was paid to torture me, or if she just enjoyed trying to make me miserable in general. It wasn't just her though sadly, all of her friends helped her torture me in diabolical and twisted ways, I'm not saying she's the devil, but I wouldn't doubt it if she was.

I'm not going to go too in depth about what she has all done so far, but I'm glad that I have friends to watch my back. I can't even count how many times my friends have tried to help me with my Artemis problem. They would get in between her minions and me and tell them to back off or help me get away from her whenever I needed to. I don't lightly hold grudges against people, but I was really starting to hate Artemis. She hates me, so I don't know why I can't hate her. My mom wouldn't be very proud of me, but I do what I need to in order to survive and if that means that I have to hate Artemis back trust me I will.


	3. Chapter 3

Today was the first day back at school, which meant that it was picture day. I dressed up casually in khakis and a plaid v-neck. I wanted to look spiffy for my pictures, so I also combed my hair out of my face and to the side. Since my last names starts with a w, I was one of the last people to get their pictures done. Linda had just gotten back from hers and told me she would see me whenever she finished. I was next in line for pictures, when out of the blue someone dumped their fruit smoothie all over me. I looked like a mess, and I felt sticky and gross. I wanted to leave, but the lady who was taking the pictures said next and motioned for me to come to her, I don't know if she couldn't see the smoothie all over me or she just didn't care because she didn't say anything.

To put it lightly the picture sucked, and worst of all I heard from somebody that Artemis was the one who pranked me. I went to the office and asked if I could go home and change, while I was home I took a shower.

As soon as I got back, I confronted Artemis at school. She was with her usual posse, a bunch of snotty girls who all needed a good punch square in the jaw. I motioned for her to follow me, and so she did curiously. I Led her to the nearest classroom and closed the door behind us. Artemis saw how serious I looked and I caught something in her eye that looked like fear, but in an instant it was gone.

"What do you want Wallman?" she asked me.

"What the hell is your problem with me? I haven't done anything to you and it's your life mission to screw with me!" I replied.

"It's fun, don't you see how fun it is to mess with you?" At that she gave me a wink that was unsettling.

"Just back off, I'm tired of your games and they're no fun for me!"

"Maybe I will, but probably not," she opened the door and started to walk out so I started to follow her out of the room. She stopped suddenly, kissed me on the lips, laughed, and then shut the door with me inside and locked it.

My mind was racing thinking about so many things at once; Why did she kiss me? What will Linda do when she finds out? How am I going to get out of here? Throughout the rest of the day things progressively got worse, it took me almost an hour to get the attention of a janitor so they could unlock the door. Then, when I did get out I saw that Artemis was trying to be all buddy buddy with Linda. She caught me staring at them in horror and gave me a wink, that let me know that I was due for a lot of trouble. Also, being stuck in the classroom had made me late to my English class. My English teacher gave me detention on the first day back, like who even does that?

So after all of the events of the terrible day I had to sit in detention, I was prepared to fall asleep with my eyes open (a trick I picked up and used often) so that the teacher watching detention would yell at me for sleeping. I figured that I was going to be the only one in there since it was the first day right, wrong. There was one other person in there, a blonde who smiled and waved at me as I walked in. Sure enough Artemis had detention too, God had to be laughing at me as he caused me endless torment. I decided that once I went home I was going to go straight to bed. I couldn't get in any trouble if I was sleeping could I?


	4. Chapter 4

I was wrong, I woke up with a start. I realized someone had woken me up on purpose, I opened my eyes and saw the face of one angry looking mom.

"Mom what? I was sleeping." He muttered.

At that she glared at him and said, "I got a call from your school today. Do you know what it was about?"

"Nope."

"Don't sass me Wally, you know very well that you got detention, and on the first day of school. Really Wally?"

"It wasn't my fault, one of my classmates locked me in a classroom so I was super late to class."

She sighed and replied, "Just don't get in anymore trouble okay. You remember why we had to move here last year don't you?"

My face heated up as I answered, "Yes mom, I know what happened can I go back to bed now?"

"Sure honey, I'll wake you when dinner's ready."

With that I rolled over and tried to go back to bed, but I slowly realized I wasn't going to be able to. What she had said about my old school had gotten to me. I never wanted to think of that place again, I couldn't believe that my mom would bring it up after what happened. It had been just another day at Keystone High, it was my birthday and the ending of the first semester. I was looking for my girlfriend Kelli, who was the head cheerleader. I had no idea why she was with me, she was way out of my league, but she said that she was in love with me. We had been dating for years, and I always wanted to impress her. My family was wealthy, so I bought her expensive gifts frequently in hopes of making her happy.

Today though, we were supposed to meet up before our last final to talk about winter break. I had my first final of the day that morning with my best friend Luke and we were talking about all of the trouble we were going to get in. The thing was though, Luke was the jock at our school he played every sport, all of the girls wanted to date him and all of the guys wanted to be him, especially me. We were planning a trip to the alps, my family had a place there, and I was going to teach him how to ski. He was my only friend, so whenever I was going on one of my many family vacations I always invited him or Kelli. We were the perfect trio of friends, we had all grown up together hanging out.

I thought I had told Kelli to meet me at my locker, but I waited for around five minutes before I figured we agreed to meet at her locker, which was at the other end of the school. I saw Luke and Kelli talking and I was about to walk up to them when something stopped me. Luke was holding both of her hands, which was not normal, and he looked like he was hitting on her. I would have said something, but I was too shocked to say anything. Then, Luke leaned in and kissed her, on the lips! The worst part was, she kissed him back as if she had already done this a million times. The two broke apart and I lost my cool, I ran over there. I went up to Luke and punched him in the face, which seemed to hurt my hand a lot more than it hurt his face.

"How long have you been seeing each other behind my back?" I yelled.

He sneered at me, and something told me this was the first time I was getting to see the real Luke. "The whole time, loser, we're in love. The only reason I pretended to be your friend and she pretended to date you was for your money and all of the free things you gave us."

"That makes no sense, we've been friends since we were 8 years old."

"Yep, it was no accident that knew two of us introduced ourselves to you that day. We knew how much money you had, and we knew what we had to do. Kelli and I started dating in 6th grade though, if that's what you meant."

"I started dating her in the 7th grade though."

"Yeah, we were wondering when you would grow the balls to ask her out. Didn't you find it strange that a loser like you would be friends with someone as cool as me and date the hottest girl in school?"

At that I went ballistic, I started throwing punch after punch at him. It sounds like I was winning, but in reality I was not, he blocked all of my punches. Then, he easily pummeled me, a teacher had arrived soon after and broke up the fight. She asked Kelli who started the fight, and pointed at me. That's the story of how I got expelled from Keystone High. The one thing that I knew was that I couldn't be like Luke I had to tell Linda about the kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

I surprisingly slept like a rock last night, I woke up to breakfast from my mom. On the way to school many things went through my mind. I was trying to figure out how to tell Linda without her hating me or breaking up with me. I pulled her aside before school so I could talk to her.

"Wally what's up?" She said, clearly in a good mood.

"I have to tell you something," I replied with a frown.

"Are you breaking up with me?"

"What? No, no I would never."

"Then what is it, spill Wallace."

""Artemismighthavekissedme," I said faster than she could interpret.

"What was that? Say it slower for me."

"I said, Artemis may have kissed me." I could see her smile falter.

"When did this happen?"

"Ugh, it was yesterday. Then she locked me in the classroom, which is why I was late to class."

I could see her trying to process the information before she replied, "You promise that it didn't mean anything?"

"I promise."

"Okay, then I believe you." With that she walked away.

I didn't know how well that went, I'm not going to lie I was worried about her reaction. I couldn't tell whether or not she was going to be able to handle the kiss. I decided that the best thing that I could do to clear my head would be talk to Dick. We hadn't l talked in a little bit so I figured it would be a good idea.

After school that day, he came home with me so that I could vent to him. "Okay," he asked, "what's up?"

"Long story short Artemis kissed me." I replied. His face turned into complete shock, once he recuperated I told him everything that happened.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Was she a good kisser?"

"I just told you that and you want to know if she was a good kisser?"

"Yes, tell me."

"Well…. she sure can kiss, but that's not the point."

Dick looked at me as if he saw me in a new light and asked, "Wait, you don't like her do you?"

I must have looked horrified, because he laughed at my facial expression. "Well, then you need to apologize to Linda with flowers and chocolates girls love those."

I couldn't help but agree with that so the very next day when I saw Linda I gave her fifty dollars worth of chocolate and flowers. She didn't seem to impressed by the gifts, but she took them anyway. For now atleast, I knew that we were going to be okay.

The rest of August was strange, Artemis didn't bully me anymore and she started acting like my friend, I think I liked it better when she bullied me because I don't trust that she wants to be my friend for the right reasons. Without having to worry about Artemis anymore though, I was able to do better in my classes. I was back to being the best student in any science class. I had always been a science prodigy, so I took a lot of science based classes.


	6. Chapter 6

Today was the first day of September, and the air started to get cooler. This was my favorite time of the year, whenever it started to get colder it meant my birthday was getting closer. One of the only things that Linda and I didn't have in common was our love of seasons. My favorite seasons had always been Fall and Winter while hers were Spring and Summer. Her favorite place to go was the beach, so it's understandable that she appreciated the warmer months. We hadn't ever vacationed together yet though, (so I had to take her word that she liked beaches) because we thought it was best to wait to do that for a special occasion or something like that.

Dick and I started playing this new rpg game, and it was so addicting that we talked about it at school constantly. One of the days that we were talking though, the most unusual thing happened. Artemis overheard us, or was eavesdroppings either way I didn't really care.

"Hold up!" She yelled excitedly. "Are the two of you talking about the game Smite?"

Robin and I looked at each other in complete confusion, because of the fact that Artemis was a full on jock who hated nerds and she was talking about an rpg.

"You play Smite?" I questioned.

"Yeah, and by that she probably means that she plays Neith like a noob and presses random buttons." At that he laughed at his own joke, which I figured was pretty close to what she actually did.

"FYI," she replied, "I own every skin, have every god, and I log in every day so I wouldn't stereotype me."

Throughout the rest of the school day, the trio talked about all about Smite and how they would play Joust later on. After I found out about Artemis playing Smite I started to think about all of the things that we had in common. We both played video games, enjoyed being in the sun, did well in school, etc. I figured that if Artemis really wanted to, she could be my friend one day.

Halloween came around and we had a costume party at one of the richer kids houses. Linda and I went as Scooby and Velma which was a unanimous decision. When we got to the party, I was completely surprised. The house was a mansion, which wasn't the surprising part, the surprising part was that it was Dick's house. When Linda said we were going to a costume party I never asked where, but I didn't expect it to be at Dick's house. Sure, he had the biggest house in Gotham, but he wasn't the party type. Dick liked small gatherings, so I figured this had to be his adopted father's doing, Bruce Wayne.

Bruce never seemed to understand that Dick wasn't interested in being a socialite like he is. Once we reached the front steps Dick gave me a help me look so I pulled Linda along and walked with him to his room. There was only the four of us in there, Barabara had been inside waiting for us when we got there. We talked for an hour or so away from everyone else when someone swung open the door. It was none other than Artemis, she winked at me and said something about playing seven minutes in heaven downstairs, I was a little distracted by the fact that she was dressed as a sexy angel and barely wearing anything. Linda caught me staring and huffed, I looked away, but I knew it was too late Artemis had seen me checking her out and so had Linda. I knew that I was going to be in trouble for that later. We all groaned but knew that we had better go down with the rest of the guests. When we got down there, most of the people were gone there were only a hundred or so left.

Artemis picked who was playing, which wasn't to anyone's surprise. The players were; Artemis, Linda, Dick, Barbara, Zatanna, Megan, Conner, Kaldur, and I. There was only one thing that stood out about this game, Artemis said we would spin a bottle to see who would be paired together which I had never heard of before. Zatanna spun first, and it landed on Dick. I could see the hurt in Barbara's eyes, they hadn't been dating for long so I understood why she was upset. Dick looked nervous, but not as nervous as Zatanna. I knew her name and I recognized her, but barely. She was Artemis's best friend, but she wasn't like her. She was never mean or caused anyone problems. All I knew was that this game was going to screw up all of the players love life.


	7. Chapter 7

Sure enough, throughout the rest of the night chaos pursued. It was like somehow the game knew exactly what would ruin everyone's relationship.

Dick's POV

This was really bad, I can't believe I was playing this stupid game. Of course, the person that I get paired up with isn't Barbara. I got paired with a girl named Zatanna, I'm not gonna lie I had no idea about anything about her. With my luck though, she was one of those girls who doesn't even realise they're beautiful but everyone around them does. I knew this was going to piss Barbara off so much, so I just decided that I would just talk to her or something. We walked into the closet together and things went south almost immediately.

Once we both sat down in the closet I started up the conversation. "So, how long have you been going here?"

"This is my first year, and you?" She replied.

"Long time, have we met?"

"No, but I've seen you in the hallways before."

I looked down at my phone and sighed. It had only been two minutes out of the seven. It felt like I had been in here for so long, it was the most awkward thing that I had ever done.

Then, out of the blue she leaned forward and kissed me. I started to pull away, but she grabbed my face and pulled me closer, I couldn't help but kiss her back. I didn't know how long we were kissing, it seemed like mere moments, but someone opened the door while we were kissing. I didn't realize at first that the door was open, but when I saw who opened the door I jumped back. It had to be Barbara, once she knew that I saw her crying she ran. Once I recovered I ran after her, but she was already gone. I knew that this time I had really screwed up.

Wally's POV

I couldn't believe what he just saw, there was no way Dick would kiss a girl that wasn't Barbara. I watched in disbelief as she ran away and he chased after her. Something told him that this was just the beginning. Throughout the rest of the night more and more things like this happened. When I thought we were in the clear though, Artemis said that there was going to be one last round. Except, she got to spin it this time. I wasn't really paying attention to the game though, because I was talking to Linda about what we were going to do after. Then, people started chanting my name and I knew that I was screwed. I didn't believe them at first, but then I looked and saw the bottle pointed right at me. I told Linda that we should just leave, but she wouldn't budge.

"Linda, come on let's just go," I said.

She looked at me with complete seriousness and replied, "This is your test, if that kiss didn't mean anything to you earlier on this year then you can last the seven minutes without kissing her. If you can't then we will be as done as Dick and Barbara, got it?"

I knew this was what I had to do, "Okay, I'll see you in a few."

Artemis smiled at me and then followed me inside of the closet. "Look," I told her, "If you want to be my friend or anything like that then you won't even try to kiss me."

She frowned and said, "So what you're saying is that the only way for me to be your friend is to not kiss you? That's dumb, the whole point of the game is to kiss someone."

"Yeah, well I have a girlfriend and she doesn't need to hear about you kissing me again."

At that she smirked and countered, "Oh, so you told her that. Did you tell her about the fact that you kissed me back?"

"What do you mean I didn't kiss you back? I was repulsed that you kissed me."

"Oh yeah, that's not what your tongue was saying."

At that I choked which caused her to laugh.

"I'll make a deal with you Wally, if you can resist kissing me back this time I won't tell Linda about what actually happened that day."

"So you're blackmailing me is what you're saying?"

"Think of it as a challenge, if you don't kiss me you win and if you do you get to kiss me which is a win."

"I won't win either way, but after this we're done. We won't be friends, or anything else I won't be friends with people who blackmail me."

Then, the moment of truth came, she leaned in and started to kiss me slowly. After a little while, she started to move her hand dangerously low, so I pulled back and said, "See, piece of cake."

"Really now, she questioned, "Then what did I feel against my hand before you pulled back?"

I looked down in complete horror and humiliation this was not happening. I tied my jacket around my waist and ran out of there the whole way pulling Linda along with me.

Not long after that, she asked me what happened and I said, "She tried to kiss me and she came on really strong so I bailed as soon as I could.

"Okay, and why did you tie your jacket around your waist?"

"It was really hot in there and way too enclosed. Now can you just drop it please?"

After that the whole ride home was quiet, I dropped her off without a word.


	8. Chapter 8

Dick's POV

A week had passed since the party and I had a lot on his mind. Things with Barbara were worse than ever, which really bothered me. Although, another part of me couldn't stop thinking about Zatanna. I knew it was wrong, but there was something that just made her so enticing to me. I didn't know how I was going to be able to figure out what I was going to do so I decided to ask the one person who would help me, Wally.

Wally's POV

I'm just so confused, I don't know what's going on between Linda and I and I have no clue what happened between Artemis and I. Linda and I have been getting more and more distant, it's like she can tell that something happened between us in the closet but she isn't sure. On the other hand, while Linda was safe Artemis was the opposite. She was dangerous, fun, and a risk taker. She was just the type of person to let loose with, which I could definitely use. I could only make sense of one thing, my best friend was the only one that could help me, so I went looking for Dick.

I couldn't find Dick, so I figured I would just wait until we had lunch together. I was so distracted, that I didn't even pay attention in my science classes. I mean they were my favorite things about the day! I had no idea where I went so wrong, when did girls start to mean more to me than science?

FInally the bell rang and it was time for lunch, I got to our table as quickly as possible and waited for Dick. To my surprise he got there as soon as I sat down. I could tell from his face that he wanted to talk about something.

"I need your advice," We said in unison.

"You first," I told him.

"Okay, it's about Barbara and Zatanna I don't know what to do."

"Ah, I see. You want to know if it's wrong that you like them both, am I right?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Well, because I had the same question for you."

"Wait a second, you mean between Linda and Artemis?"

"Well, who else?"

"Well my problem first, what's your opinion?'

"Well, you told me that you have liked Barbara since you were kids. It seems to me that you might have just been in it for the chase. I think that Zatanna is the first girl that you have liked other than Babs amd you need to give her a chance. You and Babs have been friends forever, she'll get over it."

"You know what, you're right."

"Now my turn."

"Okay, so let me get this right, I'm guessing you kissed artemis or something like that during the game and now you're confused?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, I heard what Linda said. She said if you kissed her you were done and you said you understood that. So, I'm guessing that you have some kind of attraction towards her that you haven't felt before. I think that you should do what you believe in your heart."

I went home from school that day even more confused than I was that morning. I figured that I would sleep on it, and in the morning I would make up my mind between the girls.

l

Sure enough, I woke up that morning and knew who I was going to see. Around nine I left to see her. On the whole drive there I went through what I was going to say. Once I arrived, I sat in my car for a couple minutes before I could work up the courage to ring the doorbell. When I felt ready, I got out of my car, pressed the doorbell and waited for her to answer. Not too long after, she opened the door in her pajamas and I couldn't help but smile.


	9. Chapter 9

"What's with that stupid grin on your face Wallman?" She asked me.

At that I grinned even more and replied, "Well I had an epiphany."

"And?"

"I was wondering if you would want to go have a picnic with me at the park."

"You do realize it's November in Gotham right? It's way too cold for a picnic."

I rolled my eyes and responded, "Or we could watch a movie? Or you could pick something?"

"Hmm. What would your girlfriend think about this?"

"I...I don't have a girlfriend. If you're talking about Linda we aren't dating anymore, I am going to tell her tonight."

"Well," she started, "Why don't you come inside then?" Before I could make up my mind she pulled me inside and shut the door behind her.

I'm not going to lie I was pretty nervous about what was going to happen, Artemis wasn't exactly the type of girl I usually hang out with. She's tougher than I am along with being popular. Two things that I usually try to avoid when it comes to girls. She led me through her house to the living room. Then, she told me to sit down because she was going to grab a movie from her room. So, I did as I was told and sat down on the couch.

Artemis's POV

I woke up that morning to the sound of someone ringing the doorbell. I'm not exactly a morning person, so I was not happy about being up a nine o'clock in the morning. I walked through the house as quick as I could to the door. I was worried about the way I looked, since I literally just got out of bed. Then, I realized it was probably just someone dropping off a package or something and forgot about it. When I opened the door though, I was in completely surprised. Wally West was standing on my doorstep and on top of that when he saw me he smiled. I had been trying to get Wally to forget about that Linda chick and go out with me already, but I had no idea it would actually work.

After a brief talk it was decided he was going to watch a movie here with me. I knew just the perfect movie too, and I had it in my room still. I heard from people at school that he wasn't a fan of scary movies so I grabbed the scariest movie I could find. Then, I walked back to the living room, put in the dvd and sat down next to him. We sat shoulder to shoulder, which I found perfect for putting a blanket around us. I decided that I was going to watch Wally more than I was the movie. This was going to be fun.

Wally's POV

Look, I know that some of you might think I'm a wuss, but I am deeply disturbed by scary movies. I watched one when I was a kid, and there was this clown that killed people. Ever since then I have been afraid of two things, clowns and scary movies. Of course, when Artemis picked the movie she picked a scary movie.

As soon as the movie started I freaked out. There was a jump scene in the first scene of the movie, I mean come on who even does that? To my surprise though, Artemis grabbed my arms and put them around her. "It's okay," she said, "I'm right here, there's no need to be afraid."

When she said that, I realized that Artemis was trying to help me overcome my fears, and she wasn't laughing at me. I never thought that she was the caring type, but go figure. I squeezed my arms tight around her every time there was a jump scare, and things got better after that. I wasn't as afraid of what happened or what was going to happen next. Once the movie was over, I kissed Artemis on the forehead, but as I pulled away she pulled me in for a full on kiss. After the initial shock, I started to kiss her back. Just as I was starting to enjoy myself though, she pulled away and told me sternly, "Now, go tell Linda that the two of you are done, and then maybe you could come by sometime." I nodded, and as I was walking away she grabbed my arm and stopped me, "My number," she said as she gave me a piece of paper, "to keep in touch."

"Thanks, I'll see you soon." With that I left and I was on my way to Linda's house.

Artemis's POV

I was blindsided by the way I acted during the movie. I went into the movie prepared to laugh at Wally because of his fear of scary movies, but I did the opposite during the movie. I could see the tension and stress that he was feeling, and I couldn't help but want to protect him. I pulled his arms around me and convinced him not to be afraid. I knew that this was a very personal thing I was witnessing, and I doubted even Linda had seen this side of him. Something about that made me want to help him even more. I was afraid of what I was feeling, since I didn't usually let people in, so once the movie was over I told Wally that he needed to break things off with Linda. He told me that he understood and just like that he was gone.

Wally's POV

It seemed just my luck, that I was actually having a really good day that I was going to have to ruin by breaking up with Linda. It wasn't breaking up with her that I was afraid of, it was more that I was afraid of what her reaction was going to be. With that I pulled up to her house, knocked on the door and waited for her to answer.


	10. Chapter 10

Dick's POV

I knocked on Barbara's door hesitantly, I had been chasing after her for so long but now that I had her I wasn't sure I wanted her like that. As usual, she was at the door in no time. When she swung the door opened she smiled and hugged me.

"I knew that you wouldn't choose that Zatanna girl over me!" She said.

"Um, about that," I started.

"Wait, you aren't coming here to break up with me are you? That would be a total, well no pun intended, dick move."

At that I sighed and frowned, I felt so guilty about trying to break up with her. I've known her almost all my life and here I was about to break her heart.

"Look Babs, it's nothing personal but this just isn't working out for me anymore."

"What do you mean this isn't working out for you?" She yelled. "Things were going perfectly between us until you kissed Zatanna, we hadn't even had a fight yet. Just because some pretty girl kissed you doesn't mean that you need to make me feel like it's my fault that you want to break things off."

"You know it's not like that," I started.

"Of course it's like that, if we wouldn't have had that party you wouldn't be breaking up with me right now. If you want to break up with me fine, I won't stop you but I'm not going to go back to being just your friend we're done."

"Don't be petty, we can still be friends."

"Petty? Petty? How am I petty? You're literally breaking up with me for the first girl other than me that has ever paid any attention to you. If anyone is being anything it's you, and that's called being shallow."

I shook my head in disbelief there was no way in hell my best friend, who has been for most of my life, was calling me shallow and saying that she never wanted to see me again. Before I could think of a response she had already slammed the door on me. I took a few moments to recollect myself and then I left her house. This was starting out to be a really terrible day.

Although, I knew just what would fix that. I called Wally and asked him to come over to my house to hang out. Wally was always able to help me clear my mind and relax, I guess that's what friends are for.

Wally's POV

Things did not go down the way that I expected. Once Linda opened the door and invited me in I saw boxes, which I assumed were for moving, all over the house.

"Linda you aren't moving are you?" I asked.

"I sure am, first thing tomorrow I'm moving to California. My dad got a job offer that he couldn't refuse. He asked me if I had any reason to stay, so I told him I couldn't think of any and just like that we're moving."

She seemed to be very angry, so I asked, "No reason to stay? What about me?"

"You don't even want me anymore Wally, let's be honest. The only reason we got together was to get experience with dating someone and we did that. Now, you've found someone you actually like and you were going to dump me anyway. That's why you're here isn't it?' Just listen, I get that you want what you want and that isn't me, but don't insult me by breaking up with me. I am officially breaking up with you, I'm cutting all ties and I'm changing my number. When I go to California I don't want to have any baggage."

I was in utter shock, there was no way I was hearing this right. Linda was moving? She was cutting all ties including me? Just like that? After all we had been through? I couldn't believe it, this wasn't what I wanted at all. Her stone expression wavered for a bit as she said, "Goodbye Wally West, it was nice knowing you." She then placed a kiss on my cheek and pushed me out the door.

Next thing I knew I had just gotten home and Dick called me asking me to hang out. I couldn't agree fast enough, a bro night was exactly what I needed to clear my head. I was going to head there right after having a shower and eating supper.


	11. Chapter 11

I got to Dick's house a little after seven. I couldn't wait to hang, it felt like we hadn't in so long and I definitely needed to vent to someone about my problems. I walked up to the door ready to knock, as the door opened. It was Alfred, I hadted when he did that it was so creepy like he was watching me approach Dick's house.

"Hello Mr. West," He greeted me.

"Hi there Alfred," I replied, "How are things."

"Same as usual you?"

"Problematic," I responded with a deep sigh.

"Ah, I see you're having girl trouble."

It was like he read my mind or something, "How did you know?"

"I know because Dick had the same look on his face when he got home, and he told me he was having girl problems."

"Oh, that makes sense. So….. can I come in or?"

"Oh, of course Mr. West come right in."

Alfred let me know that Dick was in his room, so I made my way there. In no time I was at his door, which was open as usual. Dick was turned around looking at something on his dresser, but as if he sensed me he turned around immediately. "Hey Dick."

"Hey Wally, I have to talk to you about something."

"Yeah I know, I heard you were having girl problems but me first. You went first last time."

He shrugged and answered, "Seems fair I guess shoot."

"Well, I did what we agreed and I decided that I wanted to try things out with Artemis."

"Nice, did you break up with Linda first?'

"Uh… no."

"You're an idiot, you seriously didn't break up with her before you started things with another girl?"

"Just listen, okay?

"Fine, fine, I'll listen."

"Anyways, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted. I didn't break up with LInda first, I went to her house after to break up with her when everything got out of hand. She had moving boxes everywhere and said that she was moving far away. On top of that, she said that she needed to cut all ties which included me. Then, I think she broke up with me."

"Ouch bro, she hit you with the cut all ties line? She must have been really pissed at you for the whole Artemis thing."

"But, I didn't even tell her yet!"

"Trust me, girls always know. It's better to come clean to girls about things than it is to hide them."

"Good to know, but you don't think she's moving because of me do you?"

"Do you want me to tell you the truth?"

"Yes."

"Then yeah, she's leaving so she doesn't have to see you with another girl. It might not have been her idea to move, but after things between started to go south, I bet she agreed immediately."

"So, I ruined her life here?"

"I wouldn't put it that way, but yeah you kinda did."

"Great, your turn to go I guess."

"Good, because mines worse. I went to Babs house, I was intending to gently tell her that I thought we were better as friends."

"You were going to friendzone her? That's harsh bro, not cool."

"Stop talking and listen, I said I was going to. I never got the chance, she assumed that the reason that I went to her house was to tell her that Zatanna wouldn't come between us. Until, I told her that wasn't why I was there and she realized what was happening. Then, she freaked out on me saying I was the one who was always pining after her and that she was always telling me we should stay friends."

"Which is true though, isn't it?"

"Not the point. What did I tell you anyway?'

"Got it shutting up in 3, 2, 1, now."

"After that, she started calling me things like shallow. How am I shallow? I help those in need of assistance in school, I'm a good person, and I even do community service."

"I think that she meant in regards to girls."

"What does that mean?"

"Well not that I'm taking sides, which I'm totally not, but you did kind of dump her for the first other girl who showed an interest in dating you."

"You're one to talk," he replied with a snort.

"I guess you're right, we've both been kind of shallow lately. Don't worry though, I'll go talk to Barb and through a little Wallman charm on her. In no time, you be friends again as if nothing happened."

"Good luck with that, now what game do you want to play?"

The rest of the night the two played video games, ate popcorn, and watched action movies. Pretty soon, the two had forgotten about their problems for the night and were actually having a good time. They both agreed that they should hang out more often to blow off steam.


	12. Chapter 12

It was Monday again, back to business as usual at Gotham Academy. Well, as normal as it could be in light of recent events. Barbara wasn't talking to Dick still, the lack of Linda Park, and the new couples at school. Although, the only people that really knew that things were different were; Wally, Dick, Artemis, Zatanna, Barbara, Kaldur, Megan, and Conner.

Wally's POV

I had just opened my locker to grab my stuff when I heard a familiar voice call my name. "Yes, Babs?' I questioned the redhead as I turned around.

An even more familiar smirk greeted me. "So how's it going today Wally?"

"Pretty good I guess, you?"

"Not so well, Dick broke up with me for Zatanna," as she said that her appearance shifted and she started to cry. I pulled her into a hug and told her that it was going to be alright.

"I'm glad you're on my die about this though.

"Ugh. I'd rather not pick sides in this fight, sorry Babs. You two are my best friends, I won't pick sides."

"You know not picking a side is picking a side right? I can tell that you already knew about the breakup so I know you've been talking to Dick. Does he even feel bad about it?

"Of course he feels bad about, he said he wished things would have happened differently."

"Hold on a second. Am I getting this right? He wanted things to go down differently when he broke up with me for another girl? How else could that go down? What else did he expect to happen?"

"I think the main thing, is that he wants to stay your best friend."

"No, he's not going to be my best friend, at least not for a long time. It seems like you won't either though will you, because you'll always pick his side when it comes down to it won't you?"

"It's not like that, you know it isn't"

"Yeah, whatever. Just do me a favor and tell Dick that you two should avoid me from now on. I'm not going to be some pathetic girl, who stays friend with her ex after he breaks up with her for another girl."

With that, she walked away and I couldn't help but question my mindset. I know that what Dick did, is completely wrong, so why am I condoning it? I guess, because I did the same thing to Linda. I knew it was wrong, but the heart wants what it wants. Wrong and right be damned. I didn't know how Dick and I had become such bad people. Last year, neither of us would have ever pulled a stunt like this, and I have to question how things have changed between now and then.


	13. Chapter 13

Artemis's POV

It was Friday, and I couldn't wait until after school. I invited Zatanna over to spend the night, in actuality though, I wanted to talk to her about boys. I know, you're thinking I'm being all girly, but really I want to get things figured out. With both her and I recently starting to date new people, and the fact that they had both just got out of relationships, I figured we needed to talk some things out. I knew that things were going to be experimental in our new relationships, and I needed someone who understood what I was going through.

Finally, I got through all of my classes and I was ready to get ready for Zatanna to come over. I wanted to do more than just talk about the boys, but that was one of my main goals of the night. I'd love to watch some scary movies with her and just hang out. I was so used to hanging out with fellow athletes, but I hadn't out with Zee in what felt like forever.

Right on time, there was a knock on my door later that day. I opened it and saw Zatanna and I was so excited I pulled her inside after me. "First we're going to watch a scary movie and then we need to have a talk."

She tilted her head with curiosity, "Well, I don't know what you want to talk about, but I guess that would be fine with me.

"Awesome, I already buttered the popcorn."

They both thought that the movie was amazing and agreed they should see another one soon.

"Okay, what did you want to talk about?"

"The boys."

"Oh, you see I was hoping to avoid that topic tonight."

"Oh yeah, and why would that be Zee?"

"Well, it's just that ever since that party at Dick's I've liked him more than ever, but I can't tell if he likes me. He's been really busy lately, and we haven't even been able to hang out at all. I don't know if he's actually been busy or if he's just been ignoring me. It's so frustrating thinking about it."

"Well, he obviously likes you if he broke up with another girl for you, just give him some \time to figure things out. Everything will turn out okay."

"I guess so," she sighed. "What did you specifically need to speak about?"

"Well, I needed to know about Wally, I was going to ask a question similar to yours, but I guess I answered my own question. I need to just take my own advice and give him some space to get over his ex. Now, I have a Wii downstairs if you want to play some games on it."

"I know, we play on it every time I'm here,. You don't have to remind me every time I come over."

"Whatever, do you want to play or not?"

"Well, duh. Obviously I want to play."

"Well, follow me then, let's go."

The two played on the Wii the rest of the night, which was normal for them. It was no surprise when Artemis one almost everything that they played. It was her Wii, and Zatanna had never played on one before hanging with Artemis. Although, Zatanna never got mad whenever she lost to Artemis, because in her mind it was just a game. All that Zatanna cared about was having a good time hanging with Artemis, which she was. Zatanna liked Artemis, because while she seemed like such a bully, in fact she was a good person. She didn't show her true colors to too many people, because she was afraid of letting people get to know the real her, but Artemis was one of the most vulnerable people Zatanna had ever met.


	14. Chapter 14

Wally's POV

Dick and I were walking in the halls towards our lockers talking about random things, when all of a sudden Artemis was dead in front of us. I barely managed to stop myself from crashing into her. "Uh, hi Artemis," I mumbled. I hope she wasn't mad about something, I didn't; think I had done anything wrong lately.

"Hey you two here are your invitations to the party I'm having at my house. Details are on the invitations, bye." She said enthusiastically.

"What was that about?" Dick asked me.

"Honestly, I replied I have no clue." As we walked the rest of the way to our lockers I read the invitation. 'Party at my house this Friday. It starts at 10, bring a swimming suit.

"I'll pick you up before the party tomorrow. See ya," he said as he walked towards his locker

. Okay, I can make it through one of Artemis's parties can't I? I guess we'll just have to see.

Friday night came around and Dick pulled up, luckily Wally was outside so they could leave right away. Wally knew how much Dick loved being on time. "You know Dick, we still have an hour until the party there's not going to be anyone else there."

"It's fine, let's just go."

I sighed and got in the car, this was going to be so boring. Dick rang the doorbell once we got there, and after some yelling from inside the door was open. Artemis looked at me and then Dick and asked, "Why are you here the party's not for another hour?"

"Early is the new on time," Dick said as he smirked.

"You are such a dork. Fine, I guess you can come in and help us finish setting up."

We followed her inside and not too long later we encountered Zatanna. Once she saw Dick she blushed. I looked around and realized something was wrong, almost nothing was done yet. How was she going to have a party if nothing was ready? Taking control of the situation, I made Dick come with me to help set up. We put up the streamers, arranged the tables, cleaned up the area around the pool, and to my disbelief set up multiple kegs. I myself had no idea that Artemis brought alcohol to her parties, but Dick looked at me like it was a normal thing. I guess, being a billionaire, he had been invited to every party by people hoping to get some money. Eventually we finished setting up when everyone else arrived.

Artemis pulled me aside once we were done and handed me a beer, I could tell she wanted me to drink it, but I was hesitant. I didn't exactly want to get drunk at a highschool party where anything could happen. Although, peer pressure won out and I drank it. Then, she handed me another and drank another herself, I could already tell that this was going to get out of hand quickly. By midnight everyone was drunk with all of the alcohol Artemis had provided.

Things were being broken all over the house and outside. To my surprise though, Artemis looked undisturbed by the damage. I couldn't even count how many beers we had, and that was bad.

Later on, Artemis convinced me to go swimming with her in the pool. I told her I'd be right back after I changed. She already had hers on so she got right in. A few minutes later I was back and there was something that looked like blood outside the pool and in the water. I freaked out, I didn't know whose it was. Then, something at the bottom of the pool caught my eye. It was Artemis and she looked in trouble, without even a thought, I jumped in the pool to save her. I carried her out, all the while she lay like a rag doll. I put her on the ground and then pulled my phone from the table with my stuff and called 911. They told me that I needed to do CPR to try to keep her alive until they could get there. So, I did CPR the way I had been taught. Although, it wasn't working, she stayed motionless the whole time. Once the ambulance got there they put her on a stretcher and took her to the hospital, since I wasn't family they wouldn't let me come with them.

In rage, I yelled, "Get out!" To everyone, slowly they all got the message and left. I couldn't believe none of them had even tried to help her. Not too long after that, Dick and Zatanna came over and asked me what happened.

"Where were you guys? She could have died, she could still die!"

"We sorta fell asleep in the basement and didn't wake up until we heard the ambulance."

"Whatever, I'm getting a cab to the hospital. You two should clean this place up, if she comes home.. No when she comes home she should have a tidy place to come back to."

The nodded in agreement and started rearranging things and picking up trash. With that, I headed to the front and waited for a taxi. When one finally came, I gave him the money and told him to step on it. Not too long later, we were there. I couldn't stop wondering whether or not she was going to make it.


	15. Chapter 15

Artemis's POV

My head hurt so bad, everything was fuzzy and jumbled. When I opened my eyes, the light was overwhelming. It felt like the biggest hangover I'd ever had, and I'd had some pretty bad ones. It took me a while, but after a while I realised I was in a hospital. I looked up and saw a doctor's face, "What… happened? Why am I in here?'

He frowned at me before replying, "Ms. Crock, you had a lot to drink, you hit your head on the bottom of a pool, and you almost drowned. If that boy hadn't pulled you out in time and called us, you wouldn't be here right now. In fact, he's the only visitor you've had the past three days. Where are your parents?"

Tears swelled in my eyes as I responded, "My mom's in jail and my dad bailed on me. It's just me."

"I highly doubt that you could pay for a house on your own. Besides, someone has to sign your school permission slips."

"Well, the school was free because of my grades. The house was paid for by my dad before he left, that was probably the only good thing he ever did. You don't have to worry about me though, because my mom's getting out next week. She'll be able to take care of me then, so there's no problem."

"I doubt that that's the case, but I'll compromise. If you can get a suitable host family for the next week, you can stay there until your mom gets out."

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

He walked away before responding which left me alone with my thoughts. I couldn't believe this was happening, I had to live with someone for a week. Although, the doctor said someone had watched over me and saved me. I couldn't help but hope that the guy he was talking about was Wally. What if I moved in with him for a week? Yet, as I thought it I knew his parents would never be okay with it.


	16. Chapter 16

Someone started to shake her body mercilessly, causing her to wake up. Artemis was about to pulverize whoever woke her up, until she saw that it was Wally. "What do you want Kid Mouth?" I asked.

"What do I want?" He started, "Artemis you have been screaming Bloody Mary for the past ten minutes. Are you having nightmares again?"

"No!" Artemis replied angrily, "It's none of your business anyway!"

"Of course it's my business! We're a couple, that makes all of your problems my business!" He countered.

"Well maybe we shouldn't be then!" Artemis said. Once the words left her mouth she instantly regretted them. The look on Wally's face told her enough, it was too late to go back now. His expression turned from confused to sad then angry.

"You know what?" Wally started, "I don't even know why I came here!"

"Yeah, you would have been better off leaving me to die. I just can't deal with this right now, so we're done," Artemis quietly answered.

Wally looked at her in shock and disgust as he stormed off and slammed the door behind himself. At that, being alone again, she started to ball her eyes out. Her and Wally had been getting closer and closer lately, so much so that she didn't want to go back to living without him. The only other person that she is close to is Zatanna, and she might side with Wally because of her relationship with Dick. On top of all of that her mom is in prison, her dad's gone, and she has no idea where her sister went. Artemis had always wondered what people meant by hitting rock bottom, but now she understood.

As if things couldn't get any worse, the doctor came into her room and explained that they needed to discuss how she was going to pay for the hospital bills. It hadn't even occurred to her that she had to pay for staying here, she had been to caught up with her other problems to even think about bills. Now that they were on her mind though, she had no idea how she was going to pay for them. Did she have a job to pay for it? Nope. Was there any relatives that could pay the bills? Nope, they were all dead, missing, or in jail.

Luckily though, right on cue, Bruce Wayne walked in to save the day. "Doctor…"

"Doctor Smith," The doctor responded.

"Alright, Doctor Smith, I will be covering the cost of the hospital bills for Ms. Crock." Bruce said.

With that, the doctor smiled and shut the door when he left to give the two of us privacy.

"So… You're actually going to pay for my bills?" Artemis questioned.

"Well," Bruce started, "Being a billionaire does come with it's privileges I guess." At that he cracked a smile and she couldn't help but return the smile herself. "I also heard that you needed somewhere to stay for a while, is that true?"

At that her smile vanished as she squeaked, "Y-yes."

"Alright then, you can stay at the mansion. I'm going to talk with the doctor and let him know that you'll be leaving. Can you have all of your belongings ready by then?" Bruce requested.

"Yeah, I didn't exactly bring anything else with me so I'm ready now." Artemis uttered.

"Well then, I guess you can wait in the car while I sort everything out. Let Alfred know that I'll only be a few minutes." Bruce remarked.

Artemis nodded her head and made her way to the exit. She couldn't wait to smell the fresh air outside, she felt like she had been trapped in the hospital for far too long. What she didn't expect when she opened the car door was Dick Grayson. "Fuck," she complained loudly, "Why are you here?!" She couldn't even comprehend how stupid she had been. How did she not remember that Dick lived at the mansion?

"Hold on a second, let me get this straight, are you asking me why I'm in my own limo?" Dick asked.

Artemis decided that the best thing to do was leave, but at that moment Bruce showed up.

"All ready to go?" He asked.

"Yep." She replied.

Within ten minutes they had arrived at the mansion. Artemis found the first room that was to her liking and shut herself in it. By the time her head hit the pillow she was fast asleep.


	17. Chapter 17

I know that I have not posted on this story in a while but at the moment I feel up to the challenge of writing more chapters. If anyone would like me to continue on with the story just needs to leave a review. If no one leaves a review, then I will close this story and try to come up with another one.


	18. Chapter 18

Artemis's POV

Excruciatingly loud noises woke me up from my slumber, it sounded almost as if they were gunshots one after another never ceasing. I finally decided to see what all of the commotion was. As I started to sit up I looked around the room. Wait, this isn't my room how did I get here? Oh... everything came flooding back to me; the accident, the fight with Wally, and the invitation to stay at Wayne Manor. Scattered across the room were luxurious paintings and artifacts. All of which looked like they were worth more than the rundown building I'd come to call home.

To my surprise, there was a fresh pair of clothes laid out on the dresser for me. It was a Christian Dior dress with flats and some other accessories. The clothes were not really my style but if it came down to wearing nothing or fresh clothes there was not really a choice. Once I was done changing I opened the door to find the source of the loud noises, apparently it had been Alfred knocking on the doors, but the wooden door amplified the knocking sounds.

"Well," Alfred stated as he gave me a good look, "You look like quite the young lady. If you would please follow me it is time for breakfast and Master Bruce and Master Grayson are waiting."

I didn't want to look like a 'young lady' and I it took everything I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from yelling at Alfred. He had always been nice to me and there was no need to be upset at him for his hospitality. After a few more moments we entered the dining area, Bruce and Dick were sitting at opposite heads of the table. Bruce nodded at me so I nodded in return however Dick was looking at his phone. Bruce noticed so he cleared his throat to get his attention. It worked and Dick looked up and saw me for the first time and his face cracked into a smile. "Well, hello Artemis! Someone looks all dainty and girly!" Dick then proceeded to burst out laughing. Not for long however as he saw Bruce give him a stern look. Dick's face went back to how it was before he saw her and he continued to eat.

Wally's POV

"Thanks for meeting with me with Artemis staying at Dick's house keeping him occupied you were the only one that I could talk to," Wally shyly stated.

"Well I must admit I was surprised by your call, the two of us have never really had a talk before," Zatanna responded, "What did you want to talk about?"


	19. Chapter 19

**I know it has been a long time, I am very sorry about the wait. College and work have been taking up all of my time for the past couple months. This chapter will be around 1500 words which is about twice as much as I was doing each chapter. For the next month I have a lot more free time so I will try to post at least once a week for the time being.**

* * *

Wally's POV

"The thing is," I started hesitantly. "I would appreciate it very much if you could be there for Artemis. Her family has already emotionally scarred her and she has no other friends like you, which is why I believe she would be much better off if you would be there for her."

I kept my eyes closed the entire time I was talking in order to prevent myself from crying. "Why can't you be there for her?" Zatanna asked in a confused tone. Her response took me by surprise enough that I opened my eyes to look at her. One look at her face told me everything, Artemis had not even told her about this yet.

"So she seriously didn't tell you?" I fumed. This whole situation was making me so mad! Goddammit! "Look the thing is Artemis and I broke up."

Zatanna was so surprised by the news that she fell out of her seat and landed on the ground. "What do you mean you two broke up?" She cried out. "You two are perfect for each other!"

"You should know about this, it happened a week ago already!" I raged at her.

"What do you mean I should know? Do you think that I'm some sort of mind reader or something? Maybe you shouldn't have done whatever you did!" Zatanna shouted out.

"Yeah, you're right I guess I shouldn't have saved her from drowning in the p…" I started. Before I could answer I felt a sharp pain on my left cheek.

"How could you say that?" She asked. "What the hell is wrong with you? You sound like a complete and total piece of shit right now. Is this the real you then?"

At her words I couldn't help breaking into tears myself. "Do you really think that I would say that?" I asked. "Do I seem like that type of a guy to you? Anyways I wasn't the one who said it…..she did. Also, I am moving on so I won't be hanging around the three of you anymore at school." And with that I took one final look at her face before walking away. I know that I probably shouldn't have mentioned that incident, but now Zatanna knows she's going to have no choice but to stay by Artemis's side. After the long day today I need a shower and then I need to grab a small snack before bed. Things at school were going to start changing and I was basically going to be on my own from here on out at school. Or at least that is what I thought, little did I know that things wouldn't turn out as I had originally planned.

Zatanna's POV

I have been so caught in school and my own drama that I had no idea anything was happening with Artemis. A week went by since she had broken up with Wally and I had no idea. I guess she was trying to put up a front so that I wouldn't worry. It is decided then, tomorrow is Saturday so I'll ask Artemis to hang out so that we can clear the air.

A couple of weeks had gone by and the scene at school was completely different than usual. Instead of Artemis, Dick, Wally, and Zatanna all walking together throughout the halls happy as can be, Wally was noticeably absent. The group itself also looked less than happy as they made their way around school every day. No one knew how or why but it was obvious to everyone in school that Artemis and Wally were no longer a couple.

Wally's POV

Every day for the past two weeks I have been keeping a low profile and staying as far away from Artemis as possible. It sucks that I can't see Dick as much, but it is for the best that I stay away from Artemis. I need some time apart from her so that I can get over her. I was not on board with breaking up, but holding Artemis back wasn't the right move either. Barbara and I have been pretty close as of late due to the fact that we are both going through the same thing. Dick pretty much rejected her even if it was unintentionally whenever he started getting close to Zatanna and because of this Barbara has been keeping her distance. The three of us have been close ever since I started here so I am glad that the two of us are close again.  
"Hello? Wally? Are you listening?" Barbara asked with a smile as she pushed my arm with her elbow. No longer lost in thought I looked at her to let her know that she had my full attention. "That's better, I have been trying to talk to you for a couple minutes now but you didn't answer the whole time."

"Oh, sorry that's my bad. I was just deep in thought," I muttered with a sigh. The break up was still bothering me and it was hard not to think about it.

"Anyways," She started with a smirk on her face. "I have a great idea that will suit both of us." Something about the way that she said that along with the look in her eyes told me that she was up to something.

"Alright, my interest has peaked," I answer nonchalantly. Truth be told I was deeply curious about what she had to say but I didn't want her to tease me so I acted like it didn't matter to me.

"Ah come now there's no need to lie to me. I can tell from the look in your eye that you really want to know," She teased. "Well here it is, I know that when you first started here you decided to make a deal with Linda to start dating."

"Yeah, because neither of us had done that before. What of it?" I replied with a confused look on my face. Where was she going with this?

"Well I think we should do the same thing," Barbara requested with a puppy dog look.

"Wait what? You want to date me? You do realize that I just went through a break up and you also indirectly got rejected recently. Neither of us should be in a relationship right now and definitely not together!" I countered while completely baffled. Does she see me like that? Where did this come from?

"Well if you would have let me finish," She chided me. "I was going to say that we should date but it would be just for show. The best way to see if someone likes you is by using jealousy." Once she said that the pieces started to fit together and I was starting to understand what she was saying.

"Oh I get it, so you want to pretend to date me so that Dick will get jealous and realize that he likes you as more than a friend and Artemis will be jealous and try to win me back. Is that what you were saying by all of this?" I reasoned.

"Now you are getting it, do you see how this would be mutually beneficial towards us?" Barbara asked.

"I understand and I agree with the plan. When should we start then?" I inquire. This was definitely something only someone in love could come up with, I couldn't help but feel bad for her. Dick is really missing out, too bad he's too blind to see what is right in front of him.

"Right now," She responded and with that she grabbed my hand to hold it in hers as we walked around the school. Immediately after people saw us a murmur started going around the school. People were wondering why Barbara and I had stopped being part of the original group and now they were putting a story together in their heads. By the end of the day the story was that Barbara left the group first because the two of us were secretly dating and I was only with Artemis because of her standing in the school. However, I decided to stop the facade after she starting to become suspicious and broke off our relationship. Then after all of these events played out the two of us were able to make our relationship public. I am not sure how they came to such a weird and messed up conclusion but one thing is for sure. Artemis, Dick, and Zatanna had all heard the news by now and were all in complete and utter shock. None of them had seen this coming which was exactly what Barbara had been counting on. Now the only thing that was left to do was to make sure to keep up our facade at all costs. Which is why Barbara and I decided that the two of us needed to go on a date over the weekend in public so that Artemis, Dick, and Zatanna would believe our charade.


	20. Chapter 20

**Even though I took so long to write another chapter there was still a lot of support from you guys, thanks so much for that.**

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Wally's POV

As Barbara instructed I avoided any and all contact with Artemis, Dick, and Zatanna so that they would not find out the truth behind our facade. Between the fact that I had multiple classes with the three of them and Dick calling me phone multiple times a day it was very hard to keep up my end of the deal. Somehow I made it through the week without talking to any of them and just as Barbara expected the rumors kept growing about our relationship which kept bothering three people in particular.

Our date was today afterschool so once I finished class I hurried home showered and changed into my best clothes. This was also something that Barbara had planned. We met up at a fancy restaurant and she was wearing a low cut sparkling red dress that matched her hair. Her face had some makeup on it too which made her even more stunning and to top it all of she had red lipstick on. If she wanted to she tried to dress up even a little at school she could definitely be a contender for the prettiest girl in school. I only ever saw her as a friend so seeing her in this attire was a surprise and I couldn't think of a proper comment to make about how she looked. She smirked at me while laughing and said, "That good huh?"

My cheeks started to flush in embarrassment because not only was I just checking out one of my closest friends but they noticed me do it and called me out on it. I coughed to clear my throat before replying, "Yes, you look very elegant today. I was just caught off guard because you usually wear bland clothes."

"Don't worry about it, that was just the response I was looking for from you," She started. "I knew that the trio would be following us so I wanted to make sure that we looked the part. The trio is spying on us behind the bushes near that park bench, so I wanted to make sure they saw how good I looked and how you would react. Now we just have to keep this thing going and I am sure that we will win over our crushes before too long."

She was right, the whole point of this was to win Artemis back so I need to try and make her extremely jealous so that she ends up asking me to take her back. The rest of the date the two of us acted lovey dovey as much as we could be holding hands, laughing, flirting, etc. We ate a couples desert at the restaurant to top it all off. Then we went to the movies and saw a romantic comedy together to pour salt into the wound. At the end of the night I walked her to the front door and as we were saying goodbye she kissed me on the cheek and then pulled me into a hug. I was at a lost for words yet again when she whispered, "They are still watching it was just for show don't worry. From now on pick me up and take me to school it will improve the credibility of our "relationship" substantially." I nodded my head before making my way back to my car and driving home.

The next day things were even more out of control I walked over to the commotion to find out what was going on when I saw pictures of my date last night. Apparently someone from school saw us and took photos of the whole date. Well this will definitely further our plan and cause a reaction. I was on my way to class when a hand grabbed my shoulder preventing me from walking away. I turned around to see who it was and it was none other than Artemis. Crap! There's no way I will be able to lie to her without her seeing through it! "We need to talk," Was all she said as she pulled me along with her into an empty classroom before shutting the door behind us. "Okay talk, what is going on with you and her?"

Right of the gates huh? I guess she was always like that though. I decided to play dumb for now, "Huh, what girl are you talking about?"

"Do not play dumb with me! What the hell are you doing with Barbara? Are you trying to piss us off or something?" Artemis yelled at me.

"What am I doing with her you ask. That should be obvious, the two of us are dating," I bluff hoping she will believe me.

"That is a lie, you two have no romantic feelings for each other. Have you even kissed yet?" She questioned.

"A man never kisses and tells," I utter with a smile on my face. Before I can react Artemis swings her hand and makes contact with my cheek. She? She slapped me? Maybe I went too far, I just wanted to make her jealous not torture her. The hurt look in her eyes is killing me right now.

Before I can say anything else she states, "Tomorrow meet at the mansion with her and the five of us are going to have a little chat where you will prove the two of you are dating. I still do not believe for a second that you would be dating her. She is just a friend, right?"

Not wanting to give away my true feelings I quickly reply, "Tomorrow is fine, see you then." After that I walk out the door and start looking for Barbara. What did she mean we need to prove our relationship? We already went on a date what else do we need to do? I ran through the halls until I came across Barbara and I told her that we needed to talk once school got out. The rest I was on edge and unable to focus on my classes. If they found out we were dating for pretend then they would think we were pathetic and there is no way either of us could be with who we want. How am I going to figure this out?

Once the last bell rang I made a break for the rooftop where I was supposed to meet Barbara. By the time I arrived she was already sitting on one of the benches reading a book. "You sure came here quickly," I pointed out.

"Well, you did tell me that there was an emergency," Barbara countered putting me in my place. "So what was the problem anyway? Did you already let someone find out the truth?" She started before seeing my guilty face. "So I am right then? Who knows the truth? Seriously you are so hopeless Wally."

"No one knows, it is just that Artemis came to talk to me and she is very suspicious," I told her.

"So you cleared up everything with her and now there is no problem," Barbara guessed.

"Well, no exactly. You see she told me that we need to meet up at the mansion tomorrow. All five of us and that we would need to prove that we were dating," I explained.

"Interesting. What you are telling me would definitely make this an emergency then. This means that we will need to figure out a way to prove we are actually dating," She reasoned with me. The two of us pondered how we would fool the others for a while before ultimately deciding to just go with the flow tomorrow.

Needless to say it was hard to fall asleep with everything that was going on in my mind. This whole fake dating was really starting to stress me out and we had only recently started doing it too. How will I be able to keep this up? Why can't Artemis just tell me that she still has feelings for me already? If she did that then we could end this whole charade and I could actually be happy. All I knew for sure was that tomorrow was going to be a pain in my ass. No matter what plays out I can tell that it will turn out badly for me.


	21. Chapter 21

It is currently four in the morning and I have yet to fall asleep. My after school expedition has been the only thing on my mind since my talk with Artemis. Somehow Barbara and I will have to convince the others of our relationship. Now how could we do that? The first thing that comes to mind would be to kiss her in front of them, but that is out of the question. That would be like kissing my sister it would feel wrong and disgusting. What else can we do though? In the end would "proving" our relationship even be worth it at this point? What happens if Artemis believes us and it pushes her even farther away? God this is frustrating, no wonder I cannot fall asleep.

I awake to the sound of my alarm clock which is set for 6 AM. Well that is just great, I will be going to school with little to no sleep and then afterwards I have to do even more tiring things. Well things cannot get any worse today could they?

By the end of the day I would come to regret uttering that phrase. As if I jinxed myself things went wrong all day. First on the way to school a stray tree branch caught on my backpack as I was walking a tore it open. All of my homework assignments for the day were lost in the wind. After that, my homeroom teacher scolded me for not handing in my homework so I had to do board problems. They were not hard since I am a genius after all, but the effort it took to move my hand to write was almost too much for me. Lastly as I was climbing the stairs someone turned the corner while running, crashed into me, and caused me to fall down each and every step. Today was not turning out in my favor.

I received a text from Barbara to meet up on the roof during lunch time with the word emergency written in all caps. Once lunch finally decided to roll around I made my up the stairs to the roof to talk with Barbara. I wonder what she wanted to talk about…..actually I bet it has to do with tonight. When I made it to the top there was no one else there, maybe she was caught up in class or something. "Well hello accomplice," A familiar voice rang out.

I turned around and sure enough Barbara was standing several feet behind me. "So what was up with your text? What emergency?" I asked in curiosity while hoping that it had nothing to do with tonight.

"What else would it be about," She stated as she rolled her eyes. My smile fell once I hear her answer. I was almost certain that this was what she wanted to talk about, but I still hoped it was about something else. "Anyways, we have to do whatever they say to prove that we are dating. Do you understand?"

"Um," I started sheepishly. "Are you sure about this? If they really do start believing that we are dating won't they pull farther away from us? I think that maybe we should refrain from bending to their will, we can just say that we are too shy to do stuff like that in public yet." One look at her face told me that my reasoning did not make it through to her.

"Look Wally, say we tell them no like you said once we do that they won't believe us and they will avoid us for lying to them. Remember the whole reason that we are doing this is to make them jealous is it not?" Barbara explained.

"I do see your logic but I feel like you might be putting too much faith in their feelings. Are you sure that they even care anymore? I mean Dick ditched you for Zatanna and Artemis dumped me. There has to be a reason why they did that right? Which means they probably do not like us the way that we do," I countered hoping to get through to her this time.

"Alright you say that they do not care anymore right? Then why are they making us prove to them that we are dating anyway? Is that not proof that they are jealous? If they are jealous then that means that they like us does it not?" Barbara asked in an all knowing tone. She had a point there, why else would they make us do this? "I can tell by your face that you agree with me, so just do as they ask us tonight alright?" I nodded my head before leaving for my next class. There is a fifty-fifty chance that this will work, like the flip of a coin. Is lady luck on my side? Time will tell.

I hop out of the shower and dry myself off before checking my phone. I am supposed to meet up at Barbara's house and then go with her to Dick's mansion. The party starts at 7, so if I want to make it in time then I am going to have to head to Barbara's now.

It was now closing in on 7PM and I had just arrived at Barbara's. Sadly I do not have a license yet so my had to be my ride here. I wave her goodbye and make my way to the limo that Barbara is waiting at. "A lime really? Don't you think that's a little too flashy?" I tease.

Barbara elbows me in the ribs while replying, "Haha very funny. It was my dad's idea it is not like I had a say in the matter. He is under the impression that we are dating after all." When she said that I could see pain in her eyes so I backed off from teasing her. I did not even realize until then that I had only been thinking about myself. The only thing on my mind was trying to make Artemis realize she still had feelings for me, but if that plan worked for me but not for Barbara what would I do? If I bailed on her then she still would not be with Dick. No, I will stick with this until we both have our happy ending because I know that she would do the same for me.

"So Artemis what will you do if the two of them are actually dating?" Zatanna asked me in a serious tone.

I scoffed before answering her, "There is no need to worry about that, he has not forgot me. This is all just an act he is putting on to try to make me crawl back to him." There is no way he would like her more than me. It just isn't possible.

"Okay but what if you are wrong? You wouldn't stand in the way of their happiness would you?" Zatanna countered.

"Oh please, the only reason that you care so much about this is because of Barbara. You are afraid that Dick will go to her, but if she actually is dating Wally then you won't have to worry," I mutter in anger.

"Even if that is true, would it really be that bad if they were together? Would it not be best for the two of them to be happy?" Zatanna questioned me.

"Yes it would," I coldy snapped, ending the conversation.

Wally better be joking, there is no way Wally would be with Barbara, they are just friends. There is no way! But why am I getting so angry over this? Do I actually have feelings for her as more than a friend? No, the one I truly have feelings for is Zatanna right? I chose her after all didn't I?


	22. Chapter 22

**I know that I haven't written for this story in a long long time, but I decided to write a short chapter so that I could delve back into it. My summer break starts this upcoming Friday, so if people still want to read more of this story, then I will put a lot more effort into it and I will also be writing longer chapters. That is however only if anyone is interested, I realize that this story isn't the best and I have greatly improved my writing styles/ideas since this story first came out. So, I also might rewrite the story using the third person and add more descriptions throughout each chapter to make the story feel more like it's real. Anyways, let me know how you feel.**

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Barbara and I make it to Wayne Manor and before we head in, she puts her hand in mine. "What are you doing?" I ask in a shocked tone.

Barbara gave me a look that said, "Just go with it," so I stopped myself from yanking my hand out of hers. "Try to look more relaxed!" She chastised. Then, she rang the doorbell and moments later we were met by Dick. He gave us a hesitant smile before motioning for us to come in.

We walked until we made it into the living room and were met with Artemis and Zatanna who both looked uncomfortable in their own right. I gave a little wave and was rewarded with a death stare from Artemis. Well, at least I know how she feels about this situation.

"Alright, let's play Truth or Dare," Barbara said.

"That's such a kid's game," Artemis scoffed.

Neither Dick nor Zatanna looked interested in playing the game either, so I stepped up and said, "Oh come on guys it will be fun, and we can learn what the secrets we are all hiding are too." That caught the attention of the three of them. I looked over at Barbara and her eyes seemed to tell me that I should not pick truth no matter what.

"Does anyone care who first, or can I start?" Dick asked.

"Sure thing go ahead and start us off," Artemis replied.

"Okay, then I am starting with Zatanna. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," She answered immediately.

"Um...okay…..what is the most embarrassing thing you have ever done?"

"Uh, when I was first learning spells I messed up a simple spell for lighting a fire and almost burned our whole house down," Zatanna stated.

A few more rounds were played until it was Artemis's turn to ask. She had a mischievous smile on her face as she said, "Okay Wally truth or dare." I had already decided that I would only do dares, so I told her dare. "Perfect. Now Wally I want you to kiss Barbara over there for thirty seconds straight while we watch."

"W-what?!" Everyone asked in surprise.

"What? We all know the reason that we met up, so just do this and we will believe you. If you don't though, well let's just say we won't trust anything you say."

"That's fine with me," Barbara stated as she walked over towards me. Then she whispered in my ear, "Just play along, this won't mean anything anyway."  
I waited until I built my courage up and then leaned my face towards hers and brought my mouth together with hers. I could hear the others gasping around me, but I was more focused on completing the dare. For some reason though Barbara started to get more into it and she put her arms around my neck and started to kiss me deeper. The kiss was starting to feel so good that I was losing my focus and solely paying attention to kissing her. At first I couldn't even hear the others calling out, but Barbara pulled away and I realized it had already been thirty seconds. As I sat back down I couldn't help but blush, how was she such a good kisser?

"Are you happy now?" Barbara asked in a victorious tone. When she said that I looked around the room and saw a mix of facial expressions. Zatanna looked pleased, while Dick looked shocked, and Artemis looked angry and upset at the same time.

"Yes that was enough," Artemis responded before she quickly left the room. Zatanna chased after her and Dick excused himself as well.

"Well? Tell me they didn't look jealous to you!" Barbara exclaimed.

I put my hands to my lips as I asked, "Where did you learn to kiss like that anyway? It was so good my mind went blank." At that moment I realized what I said and turned a bright red.

"Well to be honest that was my first kiss, I just tried to do it like I saw in movies," She answered. I saw that she was blushing as well.

"Wait, did you say that was your first kiss?" I asked in shock. She nodded her head and I almost fell out of my seat. "Holy crap you are a natural!"


End file.
